Sketch to Illustrate the Passions: Suspense or Expectation
Date:
1855
Materials & Techniques:
Watercolor, gray ink, and graphite on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 14 1/8 x 10 1/4 inches (35.9 x 26 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.2006
Gallery Label:
In 1843 Richard Dadd suffered a mental breakdown that led him to murder his father. For the rest of his life he was incarcerated, first in Bethlem Hospital and from 1864 in the newly opened Broadmoor “criminal lunatic asylum.” Allowed the use of brushes and paints, Dadd produced a body of extraordinary and unsettling paintings and drawings. This watercolor of a group of children watching a boy prepare to annihilate a doll belongs to a major series titled Sketches to Illustrate the Passions that Dadd began in 1853 and worked on for the next few years. Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)
